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WA Nationals MP Tony Crook to retire

ELEANOR HALL: The only Canberra member of the WA Nationals is to quit Parliament after just one term. Tony Crook ousted the outspoken and long serving Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey at the 2010 election.

Today he told James Glenday that federal politics has been disillusioning at times, but that he's retiring because he wants to spend more time with his family.

TONY CROOK: When it comes to getting on the plane on a Sunday morning to fly back to Canberra and it's the last thing I want to do it's clearly telling me something, so I've taken this decision with the family in mind and this is one we will proceed with.

JAMES GLENDAY: Are you unhappy with your party of the Federal Coalition at all?

TONY CROOK: No not at all, not at all. The Federal Nats have given me outstanding support, remembering that I am a member of the WA Nationals and we've sat on the crossbench initially to try and leverage a better deal for Western Australia and I know the Federal Nationals were disappointed but they also fully understood our position.

JAMES GLENDAY: In the statement you issued late last night you said only the Nationals could stand up to an Eastern state-centric Federal Government. Polls suggest the Coalition is heading for a landslide victory. Do you worry the Nationals will be side-lined and do you think that any future WA Nationals should sit on the crossbench and retain the party's independence from the Federal Coalition?

TONY CROOK: Oh no I think we've got over that hurdle now, I sit in the National federal party room, although I don't sit in the coalition and you know I've had discussions with Warren Truss and Tony Abbott about this. you know. they are both more than happy for me to be in the National party room and not necessarily in the Coalition.

But my concern is for regional Western Australia, I've been disillusioned at times I don't mind telling you. You know I've moved a motion in the Parliament to have a 75 per cent floor on the GST and yet I couldn't get one Western Australian member of the House of Representatives to support my motion.

The same applies for the Wheat Export Authority, when the West Australian Liberals couldn't even support their own bill in the House of Representatives couldn't even support their own policy.

JAMES GLENDAY: An asylum seeker boat has arrived in Geraldton. You helped scuttle the Government's Malaysia refugee swap deal. Do you think that was the right decision upon reflection?

TONY CROOK: Yes I do. I do. I was the last voice on that, I actually stopped the bill going through the House. My major concern was around humanitarian, on humanitarian grounds. My concern was, you know, the way that children may have been handled in Malaysia.

This whole asylum seeker issue is one that is a very, very complex issue. There needs to be clearly, in my view, a whole bipartisan approach to this with all of the countries involved, including the countries of origin of these people. We've got to sort this out because it's untenable, it's politically very unfriendly.

JAMES GLENDAY: In your fist speech to Parliament you spoke about the importance of encouraging people back to regional areas of Australia. Do you think you've achieved that and especially given that the New South Wales country independents have secured a lot of funding by sitting on the crossbench - what sort of legacy are you going to leave?

TONY CROOK: Unfortunately not as strong a one as they did in their electorates because they were the ones who gave Julia Gillard power, so I certainly didn't do that so I knew it was always going to be a particularly hard road to take.

But I'm very proud of the fact that I have promoted some very significant projects here in the West at both levels of government. We've got a major port link project, one that Anthony Albanese described as a nation building project without peer.

JAMES GLENDAY: You won the federal seat of O'Connor from Liberal Wilson Tuckey, who had held it for three decades. Do you think the WA Nationals can retain the seat or do you think it will fall to the Liberals this year?

TONY CROOK: Well I'm certainly very hopeful that we can retain the seat. It's very important that we have a regional voice in Canberra, one that's prepared to stand up for Western Australia. You know, my concern is that if the Liberal party win the seat again we'll have nothing more than a puppet of the party.

I also think that we can run a very, very strong campaign in Durack given the state election where the WA Nationals did remarkably well. I also would like to think that we might be able to get a senator.

JAMES GLENDAY: Is your political career finished or will you now look to move into local or state politics?

TONY CROOK: Look I think that's just something that we'll decide down the track. You should never say never but I would certainly discount it as a going back into federal politics. How people do it with young families from here is beyond me and good luck to them.

ELEANOR HALL: Thatís retiring WA Nationals MP Tony Crook speaking there to James Glenday about his decision to quit the Federal Parliament after just one term.

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